King Charles III has handed a former palace aide who butted heads with Prince Harry a prestigious new role after granting him a six-figure payout when he left the royal household in May.
Sir Edward Young (now Lord Young of Windsor)—who was formerly the principal private secretary to Queen Elizabeth II and then joint principal private secretary to Charles—stepped down after which he was rewarded by the new king with a number of honors.
Charles granted Young a peerage, made him a Lord in Waiting, and appointed him a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath and a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order.
Recently released royal accounts in the annual Sovereign Grant Report also revealed that Young had received £145,000 to £150,000 [$184,000 to $190,000] in March 2023 as a “compensation payment” for his long service.
On Wednesday, it was formally announced in the Court Circular (official register of royal engagements and appointments) that, in addition to these recognitions, Charles has handed Young an upgraded position as a “Permanent Lord in Waiting.” This role, traditionally given to senior courtiers, will see the former aide become a regular feature at major royal events, as well as being called upon to represent Charles on formal occasions.
As a permanent Lord in Waiting, Young could also be asked to represent the king at the funerals of other high-ranking courtiers or government officials.
The former aide became a figure of increasing public interest in recent years. A lawyer acting for Prince Harry in his legal case over the government decision to remove his state-funded bodyguards named Young as a party the prince had come into conflict with.
In his capacity as principal private secretary to the late Queen Elizabeth, Young sat on the Home Office committee that ultimately decided to remove Harry’s security. The prince said that he should have been told who was on the committee. Harry added that Young hadn’t passed on information that he was willing to pay for his own police protection, which he had disclosed in a meeting known as the “Sandringham Summit.”
In a July 2022 hearing connected with the lawsuit, the prince’s lawyer, Shaheed Fatima, told the judge: “There were significant tensions between the claimant and Sir Edward Young.”
These tensions between Harry and palace aides at the time of his split from the monarchy and move to the U.S. with Meghan Markle and the couple’s young family in 2020, were highlighted by the prince in his memoir, Spare.
Published in January 2023, Harry described the three most senior courtiers he came into contact with as “the bee,” “the wasp,” and “the fly.”
Though Young was not named by the prince, several news outlets, including the Times of London, identified him as “the bee.”
Harry described him in caricature as: “Oval-faced and fuzzy and tended to glide around with great equanimity and poise, as if he was a boon to all living things. He was so poised that people didn’t fear him. Big mistake. Sometimes their last mistake.”
Buckingham Palace made no comment on Harry’s record-breaking memoir or the claims made within it.
At the time he stepped down from his working role as Charles’ joint principal private secretary in May, Young made a rare public comment, saying: “I am honored to have served two sovereigns through historic times, and grateful for all the support and friendship of colleagues along the way. I am deeply touched by their kind words and tributes as I venture beyond the Palace gates, but look forward to staying in close contact in years ahead.”
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